Letter-tying device.



B. P. GREENWOOD LETTER TYIN G DEVICE.

APPLIOATION mum FEB. 10v 1908.

Patented Jan. 12, 1909.

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BLUFORD P. GREENWOOD, OF EL PASO, TEXAS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 12, 1909.

Application filed February 10, 15208. Serial No. 415,186.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BLUFoRn P. GREEN- WOOD, a citizen of the United States, residing at El Paso, in the county of El Paso, State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Letter-Tying Device, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to package ties, such as are employed by the United States mail service in assembling bundles of letters for transmission through the mails.

The object of the invention is to provide an article of this character which shall be simple of construction, eflicient and durable in use, and cheap to manufacture, and which may readily be secured around a bundle of letters or other mail matter and hold the same against possibility of becoming unfasteneu no matter how roughly such bundles may be handled, and in which, further, the removal of the tie from the bundled letters may be readily and easily accomplished.

With the above and other objects in View, as will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists, generally stated, in a package tie embodying two clips, and two straps or assembling members combined for sliding movements relatively to the clips, each of the straps being provided with a clamping member that will operate to hold such strap firmly seured around a package of letters.

in order to obviate any tendency of the device to injure the mail matter, the clips are preferably made of some strong and yielding material such as leather, and in practice one of these clips will be disposed on the top and the other on the bottom of the mail matter, preferably at its central portion. By making the clips of a relatively soft material there is no danger of the same cutting or otherwise injuring the mail matter, so that the use of the article will be free from objections present in many devices of this character.

The invention consists further in the various novel details of construction of a package tie, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts,-Figure 1 is a View in perspective of the package tie, showing the same in position around a package of mail matter. Fig.

2 is a view in transverse section, on an enlarged scale, through one of the strap clamps.

The tie comprises two clips 1 and 2, two straps or assembling members 3 and 4:, two loops or runners 5 and 6, one carried by each of the straps, and two clamps designated, generally, 7 and 8, one being mounted upon each 01" the straps and operating to secure the same tightly around a package of mail matter.

Each of the clips is herein shown as approximately circular in form and is by preference made of a strong and yielding material, preferaly leather, and is provided with four slots 9 arranged in alined pairs disposed at right angles to each other, and through which the straps 3 and 4 are threaded, the assemblage of the straps with the clips being such that the ortion of the straps extending through tne clips will be disposed on the outer side thereof.

lhe assembling members 3 and 4 are herein described as straps and as a rule it will be preferred to construct them of leather, but as will be obvious, cord or canvas may be substituted in lieu of leather. and it is to be understood that the term stra is to be constructed as covering either of t is two lastnamed forms. Each of the loops or runners 5 and 6 is preferably approximately rectangular in contour and is held assembled with the strap that carries it by passing one end therethrough and stitching the folded end to the body of strap, as shown at 16. Each of the clamps comprises a block or body portion 11 which is made of a piece of suitable metal, such as copper, and through which extends the threaded shank 12 of a screw eye 13, the inner end 14 of the shank being upset in order to prevent its being accidentally detached from the body. The body is provided with a rectangular orifice or channel through which the strap passes, as clearly shown in ig. 2, and in which it is clamped by the inner upset end of the shanlr 12. In order to prevent accidental disconnection of the clamps from the straps, any suitable stop means may be employed for the purpose, the result being secured in the present instance by folding the free ends of the straps upon themselves, as shown at 15, and then stitching the overlapped portions together, thereby presenting a thickness that would be too great to pass through the opening 16 in the clamp.

In using the device for assembling a bundle of mail matter, the operator grasps one of the clips with his left hand, selecting that one that will carse the thumb screws to project upward. The bundle of mail matter is now grasped by the right hand and slipped be tween the loops formed by the straps which havebeen previoi' sly loosened for the purpose, and when properly positioned the operator adji'sts the upper clip to the center of the letters, and presses thereon with his thumb. One of the straps is now grasped and drawn tightly around the bundle, after which the screw eye of the clamp on this strap is tightened and the same procedure is ol served with the other strap, thrs securing the object sought. To release the mail matter, it will only be necessary to loosen the two thumb screws, slide the clamps a spzfi'icient distance on the straps to allow the mail matter to be removed from the inclosing loops.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that although the improvements herein defined are simple in character they will be thoroughly eflicient for the purposes designed and will operate in a novel manner to secure the objects soi' ght.

What is claimed is V A package tie comprising a air of clips, each provided with two pairs of s ots disposed at right angles to each other, crossing straps passing through the slots of both clips and free for endwise adj; stment to permit application of the tie to packages of varying thickness, a loop arranged at one end of each strap, and through which the outer or opposite end of the strap is freely adji stable, a freely slidahle clamp block carried by the outer end of each strap and movable to position against the loop, and a screw mounted in the block and arranged to bind against the strap and 40 lock the same in position.

ELUEORD P. GREENWOOD.

Witnesses:

RoBT. L. GREENwooD, J. R. ZIMMERMAN. 

